Benjie Freund is a sound designer for interactive media.  He graduated from the Atlanta Institute of Music with a degree in Audio Engineering.  Immediately after graduating from school he founded a video game development company named Neutrino Gaming.  November 2010 Hi-Rez Studios hired him to do the sound design and UDK implementation for Tribes: Ascend.  December 23, 2010 Neutrino Gaming launched it’s first video game for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch titled Aries Revenge.  April 12th Hi-Rez Studios launches Tribes: Ascend!  March 16, 2012 he founded the royalty free sound effect site GetSoundEffects.com.  September 23, 2012 Silver Box Audio was founded.

• Euro Gamer – Review for Tribes: Ascend

• Game Score:  10/10

Hi-Rez has taken the fundamentals of Tribes and polished them until they shine, but this is no mere rehash. The class designs change Capture the Flag utterly, transforming it into a masterpiece of high-speed tactical manoeuvring that has a niche for every kind of play-style.

 

• AusGamers – Review for Tribes: Ascend

• Game Score:  10/10

If you have ever played Tribes, then you need to stop reading right now and download this game. There is no other argument that I, or anyone else for that matter, could make that should prevent you from playing this masterpiece. For everyone else, especially those looking for something different, you also have no excuses. Not only is this game free, but it has local servers, varied and challenging classes, fun maps and a reasonable learning curve.

• PC Gamer – Review for Tribes: Ascend

• Game Score:  88/100

Overall, though, I admire the way Hi-Rez hasn’t allowed Tribes’ free to play accessibility to translate into dumbed-down mechanics; it’s a damn pleasure to play an FPS that reveres movement again. The entry point for skiing is relatively low for anyone who plays shooters, but the skill ceiling is appropriately high. Masters of fast-movement throw explosives at their own feet to achieve max momentum. Expert flag-runners drill to find good routes. It all lends Tribes an aspirational quality I love: when you see someone moving fluidly, you want to get better.

 

• GameSpy – Review for Tribes: Ascend

• Game Score:  9/10

Tribes: Ascend blows in at 183km/h like a hurricane of fresh air. It’s a faithful recreation of a sci-fi PC classic, it’s fast, competitive fun, and you won’t find anything else like it online.

 

• IGN – Review for Tribes: Ascend

• Game Score:  9/10

Tribes feels like a breath of fresh air for the shooter genre, and is quite possibly the best free-to-play game to date.

 

• Luna Magazine - Review for Tribes: Ascend

• Game Score:  4/5

In terms of sound, Tribes: Ascend is everything it needs to be without being over the top. Machine gun fire sounds like machine gun fire and explosions sound like explosions. Ascend‘s audio department fulfills everything it needs to without pulling the player away from the gameplay.

• Bag O’Games Review for Tribes: Ascend

• Game Score: 4.7/5

• Sound Score:  10/10

Again they perfected the little things. Even if you haven’t played the original Tribes to appreciate the sounds that come out of weapons such as the Spinfusor (The original Tribes weapon), you’ll appreciate how well they did the sound. Whether if be with every shot of your sniper, mortar, or chain gun. You’ll notice how well things come together.

Hell, the sound’s so good, I didn’t even mind hearing that siren go off which led to an orbital strike exploding all around me.

 

• UTF – Top 5 Gaming Moments of 2012

Tribes: Ascend – The First Mid-Air Spinfusor Kill

The Spinfusor is the most iconic weapon in Tribes, firing high-speed blue discs that explode on impact, and the first time your perfectly timed Spinfusor shot connects mid-air with your fleeing combatant, sending his lifeless body hurtling to the ground, the *click, ding* sound you’re rewarded with is almost the game’s standing ovation to your dexterity, and never fails to leave a small smile as you jet off over the horizon on the hunt for more victims.

• UTF - Review for Tribes: Ascend

• Game Score:  4/5

The online FPS market is one of the most over-saturated gaming genres out there, with the twin behemoths of Battlefield and Call of Duty dominating the online time of most casual gamers. But what neither of those more illustrious titles can compete, and where Tribes (literally) soars, is the pure satisfaction that getting a kill in Ascend can bring, and the mind-boggling speed at which matches are run.